Tag Archives: prosecution

Update 2010-01-13 16:40 ET: The prosecuted militaries have announced that they will not seek amnesty. They trust in that the court will declare them not guilty, which is more honorable than accepting amnesty. The thousands of people who helped Zelaya carry out the illegal referendum may also face very severe charges under the constitution, since they violated a direct court order, encouraged by the president, who said about the court, “Let them come and arrest me!”, which they did.

Update 2010-01-12 21:10 ET: The Congress in Honduras has postponed the debate on a possible amnesty until the next congress, which convenes at the end of January. The amnesty had been requested by the president-elect, Porfirio Lobo. With the amnesty off the table for several weeks, the prosecution of the top military brass for having allowed the then president Zelaya to escape justice in June will have more time. The process will start Thursday this week.

Original post 2010-01-11 19:26 ET: Rumor is that the amnesty is off the table. The call for amnesty came from USA and other nations, and was echoed by the president-elect, since he of course wants to be recognized as the legitimate president in order to be able to carry out his agenda. However, left-leaning countries and websites, taking the lead from Hugo Chávez, fiercely criticized the amnesty. It appears the Hondurans have decided that if neither Hondurans nor their strongest critics want it, then what’s the point.

This of course means that the prosecution of the militaries who helped Zelaya escape justice will go forward, as well as the prosecution of Zelaya himself unless he seeks political asylum.

Note that NY Times has changed vocabulary and now calls it an ouster rather than a coup. Also BBC Mundo refrains from using the word coup in their coverage of the topic (except when recounting what Zelaya said, since he will never stop calling it a coup regardless of his deposing being initiated by the Supreme Court and carried out by the National Congress).

January 15 also BBC in English ran an unbiased story in which the word coup was only used in reference to the world reaction.

On July 3rd, army attorney Col. Inestroza confessed that it was the military top brass themselves who had decided to send ex president Manuel Zelaya to Costa Rica on June 28th, even though they knew it violated the Constitution. Their justification was that it was necessary. He also said that an investigation had been initiated and that they expected to be prosecuted.

Since nothing more has come out I asked a press spokesperson at the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa for an update. They were unaware of it but asked the judicial authorities. Due to it being an ongoing investigation they would not give any details, other than confirming that the investigation is indeed proceeding, and that the matter is taken seriously.

There seems to be little disagreement that the military violated the law, though. When more details come out I will for sure report it here. It should perhaps be mentioned that Zelaya was no longer considered to be president at the time, and that the military had order from the Supreme Court to arrest the man.

Ulf Erlingsson

Purpose

This blog was originally set up to inform about the events of the political crisis in Honduras 2009, and that information can still be found in the archives. The content gradually shifted to debate reforms aimed at increasing democracy under the rule of law, and thus raise the standard of living for all in the country. Among the crucial factors for sustainable development we find science. It is maintained by Ulf Erlingsson, D.Sc.